On Thursday nights we eat raw meat at home. “Hmm,” you might be thinking. It might sound exotic, or a bit scary, but it’s really no big thing. Steak tartar, carpaccio, a lot of ceviche in the summer. A pretty (ok, very) rare steak. “Oh right…” Maybe it’s not something you would usually eat, but not so strange. As it turns out, the kids are like little wild animals around this stuff. If you don’t move quick, you won’t get any. I think there is something to be said for that.
I never realized that Vietnamese beef pho was in this category, but it was a happy discovery.
It happened one rainy night when our babysitter arrived with a warm take-out noodle soup. Our family had already had dinner, but it looked so appealing and cozy. I was curious how it was, but after asking, and her thinking for a moment, she declared that it actually wasn’t very good. And then she dumped the second half.
We decided we could do better. Everything is better from home anyway. I know all the ingredients and where they come from. And there are no mystery additives. Plus, it has the secret sauce: love.
Made with love
Meanwhile, I was flipping through a stack of old print copies of Cooks Illustrated when I came across a recipe for Vietnamese Beef Pho, and we agreed that we’d make it soon to see if we could outperform her take-out. Then, I read this in the sidebar, “traditionally, the steak for pho is sliced very thin and placed raw in the serving bowl. (It cooks, but ideally remains slightly rare, in the hot broth.)” This was right up my alley. I had a new recipe for ‘raw meat night.’ (This recipe is adapted from that one, printed in January/February 2014.)
It was such a success! Deep rich beef broth, sweetened with extra onions and warm spices made the kind of cozy soup we’d all been craving. The perfect antidote to the colder and shorter days. We made it again a week or two later and I’m sure this winter we’ll see it a few more times.
Notes and overcoming apprehension
Note that I use homemade beef broth, which already had a rich meaty flavor, and I highly recommend taking the time to make this in advance. I use this recipe (scroll down to beef broth). If you are buying store-bought broth, you could add a pound of ground beef to step 1 to add some meaty flavor.
Eating some amount of raw protein in the diet is a timeless and healthful practice. For the raw beef, I use pastured beef from local farmers that I know. It often comes to me frozen and I defrost it the day that I will use it. In Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon Morell recommends freezing meat for 14 days before eating raw to avoid the possible problem of parasites. She notes that according to the USDA, this will kill off all parasites. Regardless, use common sense, keep your work surfaces clean, and use the best quality meat you can access or afford.
I know, I know – those are alfalfa sprouts and not bean sprouts in the photo. I couldn’t find the latter at the store on this particular day, but since actually getting a photo of the meal is my most difficult task, we are stuck with what I had! Trust me, no one complained.
Vietnamese pho – (raw) beef and noodle soup
Ingredients
For the soup
- 16 c (1 gallon) beef broth
- 1-2 onions, quartered
- 1/4 c fish sauce
- 1 thumb length piece of ginger, sliced thin (with skin)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 6 star anise stars
- 6 whole cloves
- 12 peppercorns
- salt
- 1.25-1.5 lbs tenderloin or boneless strip steak
- 2 8-oz packages rice noodles
- 1 T sesame oil
- 1/2 lb carrots, cut into matchsticks or spiral noodles (optional)
- 1/2 lb parsnips, cut into matchsticks or spiral noodles (optional)
For the garnish
- 1/2 c chopped cilantro
- 3 green onions, sliced thin
- 1 c loosely packed basil leaves
- 1 c bean sprouts
- 1-2 limes, cut into wedges
- Additional fish, hoisin, or sriracha sauce (optional)
Instructions
- Start with one gallon of beef broth and add onion, fish sauce, ginger, cinnamon, anise, cloves, peppercorns, and 2 teaspoons salt. Bring to a boil, skim any foam that rises, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer partially covered for 45 minutes.
- Pour broth into jars (or a large bowl) through fine or medium-mesh strainer to collect solids. I use half-gallon mason jars with a large mason jar funnel over the top in the sink, with a strainer over that. Measure out at least 14 cups broth and return to pot. Add water if needed to total 14 cups.
- While broth simmers, prepare meat. I usually start with frozen meat that has been defrosting in the fridge since that morning, so it is the perfect (still a bit frozen) temperature for cutting. If you are starting with fresh meat, freeze for ~40 minutes to firm up. Slice very cold meat against the grain, as thin as possible. Return sliced meat to the refrigerator for the rest of the preparations.
- Follow instructions on package to cook rice noodles (adding optional carrot and parsnip matchsticks). Drain noodles and add to individual bowls (omitting sesame oil). If you are not serving or using all noodles at once, return to pot and add up to 1 T sesame oil. Mix well so that noodles do not dry and stick to each other.
- To serve, place noodles and carrots/parsnips in bowls. Add generous spoonfuls of cilantro and green onions to each bowl. Add broth to cover. Serve beef separately on plates for quick dipping into broth before eating - this should warm the meat, but not cook it. Pass additional cilantro and green onions as well as remaining garnishes at the table.
Hey Janine! I love your content. I often reference it for my patients and my own personal organ-based eating.
I had a conversation a while ago that stuck with me. It was with a Vietnamese woman, who said that traditionally, liver was used to make pho. I haven’t been able to find any resources that explain how to incorporate it, but since I love pho, I would love to learn! Have you heard this? Would you be willing to create a liver pho recipe?
Hi Dr. Gutierrez,
Thank you so much for posting – this is fascinating to me and wouldn’t surprise me at all.
I’m not sure of the variation though – do you mean adding liver to the broth so that some nutrients are transferred to the broth itself. Sometimes I do this with chicken broth if I only have a single liver and not enough to make a small dish. Or, do you think that she meant that liver was used as the meat served in/with the broth?
In that case, we do eat sliced sashimi-style raw liver often. I can see how this could easily to transferred to this recipe – instead of using tenderloin, use liver instead. Indeed, the meat would have to be close to frozen to slice it well, but very thin slices of liver could be equally appealing as a meat source – especially to dip into the flavorful broth!
Oddly enough, I just ran into her again and asked her. She told me that her parents used to take liver and sweetbreads and mix them into the meatballs to eat that way. I think that’s a pretty smart way to get your kid to eat organ meats lol. I like your idea too about thinly sliced liver instead of tenderloin. I think I’ll experiment with both!
Beautiful! I love that idea and am also looking forward to trying it! Thank you for sharing 🙂